SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Hi,
Well if you don't trust magician then samsung ssd's shouldn't be used :)
The firmware does the trim operation which ultimately marks deleted blocks as writable thus your inquiry
I suppose you can do it the old fashion way or the way Crucial ssd support posted to me a while back
Enter your bios and let the machine sit over night.
The ssd has power but no activity this is when the firmware is supposed to do it's trim operation.

Hello soewhaty, :)

Q1) Personally, MBR would be fine since the drive isn't over 2TB to be able to have a partition larger than 2TB.

Q2) There's really no need to do a "Clean" or "Clean all" on the disk if you're clean installing Windows to it.

Q3) The link in step 3 gives more details for "Clean" vs "Clean all" to help.

Thank you for the reply, Brink. Appreciate your time! :)

On Q2) I think there really is the need (not a must, but a need) to do 'clean all' when the user deems necessary, as pointed out in this thread by Bare Foot Kid himself:

Contrary to popular belief, doing a full format with Windows 7 only over-writes the old disk format configuration data (the MBR) with the new and checks for sector errors, then marks the remaining space to be over-written as needed, it does not over-write (remove) any other data at all, it's all still there including code from previous Operating Systems and all of the old personal data.

It (a secure erase) is also very useful before starting the Windows installation process to correct for disk format errors of many kinds, to include over-writing the Linux / Grub boot loader, that is known to cause serious issues when installing Windows to a HDD / SSD that has had Grub as a loader in the past; also to correct installation errors when clean installing Windows 7 to a space that originally contained Windows XP.

A wipe is very effective to 'remove' any previous malware infections and start fresh.

Not doing a 'clean all' but simply formatting a drive and installing a fresh OS on it still leaves traces of old data, which you cannot be sure get overwritten (and thus wiped). With the amount of 'malware' in various forms, including even highly-reputable apps, 'clean all' is a rather good idea, IMO. Clearly not doing it all the time (especially not on SSDs) but still.

However, I'd really like to hear your opinion on the actual question I asked - after I'm done with > Step One < (from the OP) can I create my partitions the conventional way - using the Windows setup dialog (i.e. the "Select Language" screen) - or is it a must to do it via CMD as > Step Two < suggests? Any difference?

On Q3) Yes, u r right. I was just pointing out that the way it is written now makes it look like the only option for users is to type 'clean', when in fact that is not true.

It's certainly a personal choice if there's a need or want to do a "clean all". If you're keeping the computer, then there's really no need unless you just want to do a "clean" instead to wipe the drive to unallocated.

Personally, I find it best to do a clean install as outlined below by deleting all partitions on the disk during setup, and select the unallocated disk to install Windows on. Windows will setup the default system partitions on the disk for you. Afterwards, you can create any other partitions you may want.

Clean Install Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums

As Brink has stated; Clean or Clean All is a personal choice.
I have used both and I have also did installs as per Brinks tutorials without using either Clean or Clean all. All installs worked well.

I always use Clean or a 3rd party program to Clean the drive if the old install had any kind of infection. Please keep in mind, I'm paranoid and I use SSD's so it doesn't take long.

I do the same if the drive had Linux on it. Sometimes Linux leaves junk on a drive. I don't know why or how.

Once again it's a personal choice. I always use Brinks tutorial as a guide and things always work.

Jack

You could do either way to to create the partitions, but I would recommend to let Windows Setup create the partitions during the clean install instead.